Chapter 6
"I get why Harry's excited about this vote, but why are you so enraptured?" Hermione asked Thorfinn as the Wizengamot members were slowly lighting their wands to signify their support for removing Harry Potter from the care of Albus Dumbledore and placing him with Sirius Black.
"The Wizengamot is comprised of two different types of members, those who possess inherited family seats and those filling elected seats," Rowle answered, not taking his eyes away from the proceedings. "There are highly contentious parties amongst each group, but many of the elected members are resentful of those who inherited their seat."
"Why?"
"Class, power, money, it varies between them," Rowle said, shrugging slightly. "Now amongst the inherited seats, you have two primary camps: families who support traditionalism and those who favor progress."
"That sounds like the muggle government in Britain. There are multiple parties, but the Conservative and Labour are the primaries," Hermione said.
"Now there are further divides in both groups. Amongst the inherited seats there are Traditionalists, who believe in upholding the Old Ways of Magic, and Progressives who find the Old Ways outdated and think we should embrace muggleborns while preserving the Statue of Secrecy."
Hermione and Harry both nodded in understanding, gesturing for Thorfinn to continue his political breakdown.
"Traditionalists prioritize magical traditions over the ones muggleborns have introduced. Now both Lucius Malfoy and Augusta Longbottom belong to this faction, despite the former being blatantly anti-muggle, whereas, Madame Longbottombelieves the old ways should be preserved while teaching muggleborns to respect those traditions"
"What about the Progressives?"
"Progressives include families like the Weasleys and Potters," Rowle answered. "Although once again, it's on a spectrum, with the Potters still preserving certain magical traditions and the Weasleys eschewing them all."
"What about the elected seats?" Harry asked.
"Politically, they're slightly more complicated," Rowle admitted. "The majority are purebloods craving the status and wealth of the Sacred 28, such as Crouch and Fudge. The Traditionalists who hold elected seats abhor the Progressives who inherited theirs and watching members of the Sacred 28 eschew their heritage and power for the rights of muggleborns infuriates them."
"Is this why so many purebloods despise the Weasleys?" Hermione asked, before pausing, "Wait, that can't be right, because it extends beyond the Wizengamot."
"You have to understand that rooted deep within anti-muggle bias, beneath its very foundation, is the fear that we're one muggleborn away from reigniting the witch hunts," Rowle answered, his voice solemn. Hermione's eyes widened as she considered all the vitriol she'd endured in this context.
"Arthur Weasley's muggle obsession is seen as endangering not only his underage children, but the magical community as well," Hermione concluded looking at Rowle who nodded, his eyes still on the Wizengamot.
"Yes," Rowle answered, before sighing deeply, "Which is made worse by the knowledge that the blood feud between the Weasleys and Blacks arose after muggles attacked SeptimiusWeasley and Sirius Black the Second when they were childrenfor underage magic."
"Let me guess," Harry said, "Most of the purebloods know about the incident?"
Thorfinn nodded, "Keep in mind, there are some Witches and Wizards who are simply racist and extreme in their opinions."
"Now, another faction amongst elected seats are members like the Beauforts, social climbers, who are known to often join different factions depending on the issue, and how it will benefit them. Their highest achievement to date is when they married a daughter, Heloise, to the Lestrange family nearly seven generations ago."
"Lavender Brown," Hermione muttered, under her breath earning a grin from Harry.
"Exactly. Alice Brown managed to marry Frank Longbottom, but the remaining family remained stationary," Rowle answered, surprising both Harry and Hermione. "Then you have members such as the MacDougal's who believe in equal rights, but preserving the statute of secrecy."
"So why are you so enthralled by this particular vote?" Harry asked, after Rowle had walked them through all the motivations of the different political factions.
"Given how many different political factions exist, how many votes do you think are ever unanimous?"
"None?" Harry guessed.
"Exactly," Rowle answered. "Look, so far the vast majority are siding against Dumbledore, who usually maintains a healthy coalition of light supporters from both elected and inherited. Right now, however, both his supporters and rivals are voting against him."
The three Hogwarts students fully turned their attention to the vote of the Wizengamot, which approved transferring the guardianship of Harry Potter in a record-breaking landslide. Even more surprising than the vote, however, were the loud discussions of sanctions against the Chief Warlock.
"Congratulations Lord Black," Amelia Bones said, gaveling down much of the noise amongst Wizengamot members."Considering the grave injustice caused by one of our members, the Wizengamot is set to conduct a hearing for Mr. Crouch. Would you kindly take your seat?"
"I object!" Crouch said leaping to his feet, before Sirius could respond. "Not only is such a hearing a farce, but Sirius Black would never judge an investigation impartially!"
Despite the disrespectful address, Sirius remained calm as he asked Amelia, "If I may?"
Waiting on a nod from the witch Sirius explained, "On behalf of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, I have chosen to delegate the family seat to a proxy, Remus Lupin."
"Apologies, but proxies are only permitted when a scion is underage, and no other family member is suitable to fulfill said duties," Amelia said looking quite bemused.
"Oh," Sirius said, looking momentarily defeated before he brightened up. "Good thing Remus, James, and I got drunk in sixth year, and performed the Domo Fratris Teneat ritual." FewWizengamot representatives appeared to recognize the obscure ritual, even amongst the Sacred 28 members.
"Exactly how would such a ritual qualify Mr. Lupin to hold your family seat?" Amelia asked.
"Domo Teneat rituals are an obscure branch of binding ritualsfocusing on family magics. Due to the permeance of the bindings, the entire collection of spells fell out of favor. Many paterfamiliases discovered wayward children could use the magic to escape unwanted betrothals. You can imagine the ire that eloping and ruining a carefully planned alliance would incur, especially once it's discovered that the binding cannot be undone."
"Lord Black, you were the heir to a prominent Sacred-28 family, and the Potter's were also an upstanding pureblood family. Why the need to utilize this ritual?" Amelia Bones asked. "Certainly,it is more than the misguided judgement of teenage boys."
Sirius chuckled, "Walburga Black was a controlling harpy, and often threatened to disown me from my family. During sixth year, the three of us were drinking in our dormitory and devised a plan to ensure we always would have a family. I took great delight in ensuring Walburga gained two sons she could never disown. Although, I never expected her to presume I'd married them at first."
"Is there any way to prove this relation?" Amelia asked. Sirius nodded, pulling his wand out and performing a spell to call family magics to the surface between him and Remus. A vibrant purple beam connected Remus and Sirius from across the Wizengamot chamber before he dismissed the charm.
"In that case," Amelia said, before she was interrupted by a cough from the elected seats of the Wizengamot.
"Hem hem."
Narrowing her eyes towards a witch drenched in pink robes, Amelia asked, "Yes Madame Umbridge? You have a comment?"
Rising to her feet, the witch nodded emphatically, "I would be remiss to not raise an objection to Lord Black's chosen representative. As a sworn member of this historical and august body, it is my duty to uphold the level of decorum and decency our citizens expect of us."
"On what grounds do you object?" Amelia asked, practically cutting the witch's speech off.
"The citizens of the British Enclave expect members of the Wizengamot to maintain high standards both morally and, in their actions, as well as actively participate in the community. It is our responsibility to purge those who fail to meet those standards from our ranks in order to retain the faith of the good wizards and witches we serve. Lord Black's chosen representative, unfortunately, fails to reach this threshold and is unsuitable to join the Wizengamot, despite his connection to the Black Family."
"You are questioning Remus Lupin's standing in the community to disqualify him on the basis of unsuitability?" Amelia asked.
"Yes," the witch answered. "As impeccable as a relation to the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black is, unfortunately, it is not enough to overshadow Mr. Lupin's consistent history of failing to secure and retain long term employment."
"How is his employment history relevant? Many Wizengamot members rely on inherited wealth, and do not work."
"They do, however, contribute to our community through various charitable measures, such as donations, volunteer work, and a variety of other charities," Umbridge answered with a simpering smile, before a more solemn look appeared on her face.
"Mr. Lupin has not provided such an alternative. In fact, his most recent termination has proven that the Hogwarts Board lost faith in his abilities to work consistently without disappearing for days at a time."
"She's objecting to him because he's a werewolf," Harry muttered to Hermione angrily.
"Members of the Wizengamot are entitled to have another family member represent them during sessions where they are unable to attend," Sirius answered haughtily. "Therefore,absences are covered, and not a means to object to him. Madame, I suggest you be specific in exactly why you believe my brother to be unsuitable."
"I believe I already have Lord Black, and in fact I motion for the Wizengamot to vote on whether to accept Mr. Lupin as representative of the Black Family's seat," Umbridge said looking around for a second. Rather than finding support, several members amongst the inherited seats chuckled.
"Filling a Family Seat on the Wizengamot falls under the purview of House Business," Augusta Longbottom informed her. Umbridge's eyes narrowed as August continued speaking, "The Wizengamot can only reject a nominee should they be currently incarcerated or permanently physically incapacitated."
"Exactly how are we supposed to protect our citizens with such a policy?" Umbridge asked, glancing around to her fellow members. "Surely this must be changed to ensure our body remains morally upstanding."
When Lucius Malfoy rose, Umbridge smiled, clearly believing he intended to support her.
"Madame Bones, I move that we table Madame Umbridge's motion," he said. "Despite her best intentions, there is nothing the Wizengamot can do to prevent Lord Black from filling the family seat with Remus Lupin-Black, who clearly has been proven to be a member of the Black Family. Instead of dithering about irrelevant rules, our time would be better served closing loopholes that allowed Lord Black's incarceration, and investigating exactly how such a travesty came about."
Multiple members from both elected and inherited seats seconded his motion so thoroughly that Amelia did not call for a full vote on the measure.
"Mr. Lupin, if you will take your family's seat," Amelia said nodding to him. Several members in the elected seats looked outright furious as Remus sat down in the Black seat, next to Lucius Malfoy himself.
"It's a pity my wife didn't inherit Cygnus' copy of the Black Family Tapestry," Lucius commented so only Remus would hear him. He grinned at the blonde wizard.
"Oh, Andy must have stolen it after her parents disowned her," Remus said loftily. "In fact, I believe I heard Sirius once laughing that she burnt it. If you really miss seeing it, I'm sure Sirius would be happy to host you and Narcissa."
"Mr. Crouch, you will step forward to the witness dais and subject yourself to questioning," Amelia called out, interrupting Remus and Lucius' conversation."